by Sean Platt
Ephraim was a loose end. A potential wrench in Neven’s plans for Wood and the database.
All other considerations had become secondary since Neven learned that Ephraim’s clone had gone missing. He’d been doing all that he could to eliminate that hiccup before moving forward.
“What makes you so sure the clone will come out of hiding?”
“Because he’s out of options,” Neven explained. “GEM stopped listening to him months ago, and he made a permanent enemy with that Quarry bullshit. Fiona won’t help him, not after he stole her property and killed her people. The world thinks he’s an arsonist and a multiple murderer. He doesn’t have a single friend. What would you do in his shoes, Mercer? Even Wood has everyone thinking there’s a conspiracy between the Todd brothers, that Jonathan was in on a plot to kill me and take over Eden. What better chance to clear his name than to prove that clones are real and that he is one?”
Mercer seemed to be digesting, nodding slowly, taking too long to reach the right conclusions.
“What about Wood?”
“What about him?”
“You wanted him working on the GEM database. To install the backdoor.”
“If we don’t handle catching the clone first, everything else could fall apart. The database can wait. Didn’t you hear me reprogramming him before sending him to Kilik?”
“You said you couldn’t program the new clones.”
“Matter of speaking,” Neven said. “Technically, I guess I persuaded him.”
“But he’s a zealot. You tweaked him to be a zealot. He believes in the mass test even more than you do.”
“I want him to be a zealot. He’s a clone; he knows he’s a clone; he knows he’s better than the old Hershel Wood. Nothing would please him more than to show the world that clones are superior to organics. What better way to have an ally than to show him the truth?”
“That’s my point, Neven. When you tried to persuade him at the last minute before you turned on Kilik to kill the other Wood …”
“What?” Neven demanded.
“Well, he just ended up so cold.”
“Wood was always cold.”
“But the clone, Neven. It’s like, when you tried to change his mission from ‘hack the database or whatever’ to ‘launch a manhunt for Ephraim Todd,’ he …”
“He what?”
Mercer shrugged. “It’s like he broke. You didn’t have to fly back with him. It’s like he’s scooped out. You said it yourself; you can’t control the new ones, so it’s more like high-pressure persuasion. Like brainwashing.”
“And?”
“He gave me the creeps. His eyes were empty. And the thought of that new Wood out there, with all of these plans dependent on him …”
“What do you think is going to happen, Mercer?”
“I—”
“He needs to mobilize GEM against Ephraim Todd, who will be in the city soon to search for the Ephraim that Ava is telling everyone to watch out for. He won’t slip through undetected, not with the entire city on high alert. And even if Wood ignores my new directive and goes right to putting the back door in the database, so what?”
“You can’t control him,” Mercer repeated.
“I can control Kilik,” Neven said.
“But—”
“Stop worrying,” Neven said, turning his back to Mercer. “Your mental equipment isn’t developed enough to get it right.”
Chapter 23
Jubilee
Ephraim opened his eyes to full morning. The room’s blackout shades had kept the rising sun from his sleeping mind.
His internal clock was off, but that was fine. This was the first morning in months he hadn’t woken on a hard prison bunk, and the first time in nearly a year that he hadn’t woken with a demon on his shoulder.
For a time, that demon had felt like paranoia; a sense that something was acutely wrong with his world and that no matter how hard he fought, he’d never manage to fix it. Neven and Jonathan had been whispering into his MyLife, but knowing that didn’t change the feeling.
Even now, Ephraim couldn’t help feeling watched.
Because he was being watched.
Sophie was awake, her naked back mostly to Ephraim, rising to slide on her panties. She was looking at him as he woke, but her gaze was different from what he remembered from before their trip to Eden. Then, Sophie had looked at him almost mindlessly. Her adoration had been hard-wired. Sophie hadn’t known why she was so infatuated with Ephraim. She simply had been; it was a fact as natural to her as breathing.
But now her look was softer. More natural. Volition rather than compulsion.
“You slept a long time.” Sophie didn’t attempt to hide her nudity. She saw his expression and said, “You’re wondering if we should have done that.”
“No, it’s not that.”
“It is. It’s okay. I’m not wondering. I’ve wanted it for a long time.”
Ephraim shook his head slowly, a tiny smile wanting to dawn.
“What?” Sophie asked.
“You’re just so different.”
“Good different?”
“Good. But hard to get used to.”
She pulled on a shirt and sat beside him on the bed. “How am I different?”
His truest answer — you’re like an actual person now — was too blunt.
“You just seem so comfortable with yourself.”
“It makes sense. I’ve been to therapy every day since coming here.”
“Are you just going to live at The Vineyard forever?”
“Not forever. But it makes sense for now. I’ve been told I look a lot like the younger version of some famous Hollywood actress who thinks she’s past her prime.”
“You could cut or dye your hair.” He smiled. “Paint on a fake scar.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m happy here. The Change isn’t a cult. It’s not even a religion. It’s more like intensive self-exploration.”
“I know. I talked to Papa.”
“Does he seem like a cultist?”
“No.”
Sophie leaned in and kissed his lips. Ephraim wanted to pull away — not because he didn’t want her close, but because so much felt awkward, or at least felt like it should.
Despite his history with her, this Sophie Norris — not the older version he’d known on his first Eden trip nor the lobotomized drone she’d been before The Change freed her mind — was almost a stranger.
Apparently, Sophie had decided that she’d loved him all along, and Ephraim supposed that in a way, he’d loved her, too. But just 12 hours after this iteration of Ephraim had met this iteration of Sophie, they’d fallen into bed.
Shouldn’t it be more awkward?
The kiss lingered. Ephraim leaned in, his hands finding Sophie’s sides.
Then she stood. She walked around an oblique corner in the room and paused, looking at the wall, until Ephraim realized that her eyes were on a screen. He stood, pulled on his discarded boxers, and moved to stand beside her.
The news was on with the volume muted, probably to let Ephraim sleep. Several scrolls ran along the bottom as Ava Bloom talked to the camera. The background resembled a police scene: yellow caution tape, an ambulance with flashing lights, EMTs loading a sheet-draped figure on a gurney into its back.
“What’s going on?” Ephraim asked.
“Ephraim Todd is in New York City.”
“I’m right here.”
“Then it’s someone with your DNA. He apparently used a Smart Fountain that GEM had turned active. It sampled his skin and determined a match.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I could show it to you on the internet,” Sophie said, indicating a tablet. “You know how Hershel Wood was talking about you being involved in a conspiracy? Well, it got all the geeks in the forums worked up, trying to crack that conspiracy wide open because they love that kind of thing. I’m not sure how, but they got the sequence from the Smart Fountain and your sequen
ce from when they admitted you at Queensboro. The sequences match.”
“When did this happen?”
“The DNA match was worked out late last night. But this,” Sophie pointed at the screen, at the crime scene, “is only a few hours old.”
Ephraim looked closer. To the right of Ava’s muted head, in one of the side boxes, were a pair of photos. One was Ephraim’s mug shot, and the other was a handsome blond man with short hair and a movie-star smile. Below Ava, the scroll read, EPHRAIM TODD BELIEVED RESPONSIBLE FOR EARLY MORNING MURDER.
Ephraim was squinting at the blond man’s photo. “That’s—”
“Nolon, I know. They’re reporting his name as unknown, but it’s a clone. Papa thinks they might have sent the Nolon along as a sacrifice. A distraction.”
“Who? A distraction from what?” He wasn’t yet awake; his brain wasn’t working. “Papa?”
Sophie was pulling on a pair of light linen pants. She turned to Ephraim and smiled. “I’m sorry. I’ve been up for a while. I get up at six now. I hate sleeping. It’s a waste of time, and I’d always rather be doing something else. I’ve seen this report twice and had a long talk about it with Papa. Went to yoga, too.”
This last bit wasn’t relevant. She said it playfully, just to fake-rub it in, then continued.
“There are Change followers everywhere. Papa’s been keeping tabs on Eden and Neven forever. Things like this light up through his contacts before they ever hit the news. GEM got a report about some stuff missing from Eden that isn’t being disclosed. They’re also sitting on a report they can’t prove, about a possible celebrity cloning.”
“You?”
“No. This is recent, but back from around when you were on the islands. They think it’s Titus Washington. They have a DNA sequence and everything; they just can’t prove it’s his DNA for sure. But both that and the report of missing cloning stuff has GEM all worked up.”
“Why can’t they say it’s Titus’s DNA? If they know for sure the fountain DNA thing is me—”
“Your sequence was on record at the prison, which someone got access to. Titus’s isn’t.”
“Then what good is this rumored report?”
“GEM is the custodian of the Gene Crypt — the database containing the sequence of anyone born in a certified hospital in the last 20 years, or anyone who’s ever gone to a doctor and not specifically jumped through the hoops to opt-out of inclusion. In theory, they could find Titus’s sequence in there. But it’s tricky, politically speaking, due to privacy laws. But they seem to know enough to go after Eden. They’ll have a presence on the island soon.
“Papa’s been aware for a while that GEM was about to get very interested in the Eden investigation. The off-the-record report that Eden is missing some supplies seemed to imply that other labs might be cloning, too. That’s Papa’s best guess as to why Ephraim — the other Ephraim — is in New York.”
“Why?” Ephraim asked.
“He thinks that Eden is trying to find whoever has been taking their supplies.”
“But sending Ephraim …”
“Based on what you said, the other Ephraim and Jonathan are the only two non-dromes on the island who know Eden’s secret. Your brother can’t come to New York to hunt down their poachers because he’s being watched. Ephraim, on the other hand, is under cover. Nobody knows he’s ‘Ephraim Todd’ because you’re supposed to be Ephraim Todd.”
“This makes my head hurt.”
“The point is, Ephraim was apparently able to slip away and was only ID’d because GEM was on alert and saw his DNA when he used a Smart Fountain. He was the only person Jonathan trusts who could slip away and get into the city.”
“Why New York, though?” Ephraim asked.
“Papa is guessing, but there’s one obvious company in New York who might have stolen Eden’s stuff. Can you think of an Eden competitor in NYC?”
“Riverbed.”
Sophie nodded. “Right. So maybe Ephraim left Eden to come here and sniff around Fiona’s place. And this?” She indicated the screen. “It looks like maybe he killed a Nolon to distract attention from what he’s really up to. But I don’t think it’s working. Because Ava Bloom broke something just before you woke up, about Jubilee.”
“What about Jubilee?”
“You know what Jubilee is, right?”
“Of course I know what Jubilee is! I’ve lived in New York for …” His memories were a mishmash. He calmed his voice, seeing Sophie’s expression face. Quieter, he said, “It’s like Mardi Gras, the day after Procession. One parade for the pious, then another for the riotous. In a week from tomorrow. What about it?”
“Ephraim is planning something at Jubilee. Papa’s not sure what, but he’s guessing a break-in at Riverbed. The news is reporting something more sinister, like a mass-killing or a bombing. This thing with the Nolon is making it worse, which is probably exactly what Ephraim and Jonathan want: more chaos to hide their intentions. The world is afraid of you, Ephraim. Ava and Hershel’s reports have demonized you. People are scared. Remember, they think you burned Eden, killed a bunch of people, then escaped from prison. You’re Public Enemy Number One, and GEM’s campaign against you won’t help. They won’t cancel Jubilee or the parade because people won’t stand for it, but in the meantime, they’ll worry like hell about it.”
Ephraim watched the muted screen, reading the scrolls, flinching at the oft-repeated and only mildly censored footage the news had somehow gotten from Neven’s MyLife recorder, of Ephraim beating the man to death. He couldn’t help a shiver. It was a lot to absorb within minutes of waking.
“Good thing we’re safe out here, I guess,” he said, inching closer to Sophie and wrapping his arms around her.
Her head flinched toward him. “You don’t understand. If the real Ephraim is in the city, we have to find him.”
“Why?”
“He can connect Papa to Eden. With the island on lockdown, there’s no other way.”
“Why would Papa want to get to Eden?”
“He doesn’t have to get to it, just at it. Into their systems. It’s the only chance he sees to figure out what happened with Neven. Where he might have gone. It’s the only way to find him so that we can stop him.”
Dark memories from the night before were sliding back, suffusing the brief if awkward afterglow he’d felt from waking with Sophie.
That weight was back on his shoulders; Papa’s suggestion that if there was a way to fix what Neven was breaking, the crux would fall onto Ephraim’s back.
But despite the dawning realization that he’d have to move toward the fray in New York rather than backing away from it, Ephraim didn’t find himself focusing on the danger and the vague sense of futility. Instead, he found himself focusing on one and only one word that Sophie had said.
“‘So that we can stop him’?”
Sophie faced him fully. She was no longer a timid leaf tossed by the wind. No longer a mindless drone, created on Eden and sold through Mercer’s dungeon to serve him. Now she was a woman. And she was strong. Stronger, Ephraim thought, than he was.
“Finding Ephraim before Jubilee won’t be easy. So naturally,” she said, “I’m going with you.”
Chapter 24
A Pair of Objects
By the time Ephraim ran into the command center, Jonathan already had his hand up to shut his brother’s mouth.
“I keep telling you, Elijah. You’re a fucking aesthetician. If you keep running in here like this, people are going to think you’re my brother.”
“Have you seen the news?” Ephraim blurted.
“And that’s not good,” Jonathan continued, “because, despite that stupid beard, we’re two black guys who look a lot alike. Even Mauritius might decide we’re more than buddies.”
Jonathan was detaching a small box from a nest of wires under one of the stations. Ephraim had seen Neven mess with the thing. It had something to do with controlling clones, and if Neven were alive, he’d be shouting Jonat
han down, telling him to keep his damn hands off it.
“I said, did you—”
“I saw it. I guess you didn’t?”
Ephraim could only stare at him.
“If you’d seen the news,” Jonathan continued, finally freeing the little box, “you’d have come in here thrilled, not agitated.”
“What?”
“Are you going to tell me that GEM is mobilizing, based on a tip about Eden’s connection to an Ephraim Todd who recently escaped from prison?”
“They’re saying GEM is about to get permission to come ashore. Not from us, but from Agaléga.”
“And this bothers you.”
Ephraim couldn’t believe this. “It means they’ve found evidence against us! Once they’re here, they’ll—”
“Relax, will you? GEM doesn’t have any more authority on Eden than they do in the States. They’ll snoop around like the Mauritius people, and because I’m not about to open doors without an official order, which nobody is going to get, they won’t find shit.”
“But—”
“And meanwhile, we got what we wanted.”
Ephraim’s alarm faltered. Jonathan seemed for a moment like he might continue being superior, but he smiled instead.
“Celebrate, little brother! Wood got our note. They’re buzzing like hornets because we sent them a tip. After we found the missing betas? About possible rogue cloning labs?”
“What about that Titus Washington report they already had? Titus was here on Eden. That’s a direct connection. Proof. They might come here looking for that kind of thing.”
“It’s not proof unless they can establish that it’s Titus’s DNA. And he won’t give them a sample because he’s not going to admit that he went in for a full refurbishment. And it’s not like Eden is going to tell them why they need it.” Jonathan shifted his voice to a deep-pitched impersonation of Hershel. “‘Oh, hey, by the way, Mr. Washington — looks like Eden made a copy of you while you were there. No reason for widespread public alarm about that being possible, though, so please keep it to yourself.’ Forget it. They’ve got nothing.”